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LIVE: UCF Faces USF for American Baseball Championship

It’s the War on I-4 with a conference title on the line

UCF Baseball 2018
UCF Baseball beat USF to win the regular season title in 2018. If they do it today, they’ll win their first conference title since the A-Sun days.
Photo: Brian Murphy

The UCF Knights (31-29, 18-14 in The American) are in the American Baseball Championship Game for the first time in school history, and they will take on the arch-rival USF Bulls (27-27, 14-14 in The American).

First pitch is at noon at Baycare Ballpark in Clearwater, and the game will be televised on ESPNews and ESPN+.

It’s the Knights’ first trip to The American Baseball Championship Game, and their first conference championship game appearance since 2002, when UCF was in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Knights dispatched 1-seed ECU last night in a 2-1 semifinal nail-biter to get here. USF meanwhile knocked out 2-seed Tulane late last night.

This is the ninth meeting between the two squads this year, and UCF has a 5-3 advantage. UCF and USF split four meetings in Tampa over April 1-3, but the Knights won three of four in Orlando on April 16 and 17.

UCF trails the all-time series, 75-73.

Starting Pitchers

UCF: A.J. Jones

  • 2021: 4-3, 6.29 ERA
  • April 3rd vs. USF in Tampa: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 K (UCF won, 3-0)
  • April 17th vs. USF in Orlando: 5.0 IP, 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 K (UCF won, 5-4 in 10 innings)

USF: Collin Sullivan

  • 2021: 3-3, 3.80 ERA
  • April 2nd vs. UCF in Tampa: 8.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K (USF won, 3-1)
  • April 16 vs. UCF in Orlando: 5 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 4 K (UCF won, 5-2)

Follow along with us live!

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